we're working with twitter tonight, exclusive relationship. you can send us a tweet. we'll be tracking all of the tweets, fair and balanced as always. it's going to be an interesting night here, the battle for the bluegrass, the vice presidential debate. >> shep: this is the fox report. tonight debate night in kentucky. joe biden and paul ryan face off for the first and only time and there is a new round of polls, again showing the republican nominees are closing the gap in the race for 1600. the pressure is on the vice president to go on the attack. >> you ever see this. >> shep: congressman ryan says he's ready to fight back. >> what he can't run electric is president obama's indefensible record. >> shep: the high stakes showdown in danville. plus, a security officer at a u.s. embassy shot dead on his way to work. investigators say it looks to them like al-qaeda's most

dangerous branch may be to blame. but first from fox this thursday night, two hours to go 'til the running mates face off here at center college in danville, ken condition. unlike other years, the analysts say this presidential debate could actually mean something. could be a crucial turning point in the race for the white house. one democrat is predicting joe biden will, quote, make mince meat of congressman paul ryan. something even president obama admits he did not do in his own debate with governor mitt romney last week. the governor has been gaining ground in the polls ever since. new faye from three key swing states from the "wall street journal" and nbc news. "wall street journal," the parent company of this network, or owned by the parent company. it shows governor romney closing the gap in virginia and ohio, with the president hanging on in florida. less than an hour ago, the tampa bay tim a and herald newspapers released a poll from florida. it shows governor remain knee opening up a decisive

seven-point lead in that poll, which is outside the margin of error. the vice president and congressman ryan say they've been studying and practicing for this. they've dropped a few hints about what we can all expect tonight. >> the thing about congressman ryan is he's been straightforward up to now about everything he has -- all the significant changes he wants to make. we have a fundamentally different view on a whole range of issues. >> joe biden is one of the most experienced debaters we have in modern politics. but the the achille achille's heel is president obama. >> shep: the achille's foot has a habit of ending up in his own mouth. ed henry, you've got new information about the debate session. >> fox learned that 9 prep session a few weeks ago, he was all over the place, i'm told bay senior democratic source. that's one of the reasons why

david axelrod and other top officials came in and basically took over the prep sessions to make sure the vice president got back on track. he was rusty after four years of not debating since the debate with sarah palin in 2008. another senior democrat insisted to me axelrod was always planning to get involved at some point and that that was not a huge deal and say the vice president is ready to go tonight. bottom line is, he has a big job to do either way. the president called him today from air force one on the way to campaign event in miami to wish him luck because look, vice president will have to clean up the mess the president left from the first debate where he didn't push back hard enough against mitt romney, even by the obama campaign's own estimation. mitt romney called paul ryan today as well, wished him luck. both sides gearing up for this. you mentioned that achille's foot. some analysts say in this kind of format, the vice president won't slip up. >> in debates, particularly against sarah palin four years ago, he was pretty disciplined. i think republicans would be

unwise to count on a biden gaffe occurring during this debate. >> senior democrat told me a short time ago where the vice president does get in trouble is not in this format, but a tv interview and he starts winding around and telling a long story and goes off message. another thing to watch tonight is that this is not just domestic policy like the first debate. it's foreign policy as well. that terrorist attack in libya could come up tonight for the first time in one of these debates. >> shep: yeah, i would be surprised if it didn't. what's the obama campaign telling you about the strategy and taking on congressman ryan? >> they're saying to me in private that he's not really just taking on congressman ryan. the plan, the strategy is to go after the top of the ticket in mitt romney by using in part paul ryan's budget. the democratic side, they believe it's a target, they got a new web ad out where they say basically the math in ryan's budget does not add up. so look for joe biden to push that point tonight. paul ryan has made clear he sees big differences from the vice

president. he's going to hit those. take a listen to this. >> what i'm excited about is we get to offer the american people a very clear choice. joe biden has been on this stage before. he's been on these big stages. it's my first time of the what he can't run from is president obama's indefensible record. >> his first time, you can see him trying to lower expectations. i'm told that paul ryan had nine 90 minute prep sessions. gives you an idea of how intensively each side prepared. >> shep: nine of them, wow. ed henry live at center college. thanks. let's bring in chris wallace. chris, nine prep sessions. i don't know, you could overprepare, can't you? >> yeah, you can. but one thing that i found out today, i find astonishing, joe biden has been in the witness protection program. do you know that he has not done an interview on national television since last may when he jumped the gun on the president and announced in effect that the administration was going to support same sex marriage before the president

did. since then in may, he's not done a single national television interview where he's had to answer questions from reporters. tonight he'll have to do it for 90 minutes. since ryan joined the ticket, he's done over 200 interviews. so there is a different kind of preparation there. >> shep: you know, there are varying ideas about what the strategy should be tonight l the vice president should come out really hard to try and turn this tide. i talked to a couple of pretty influential democrats last night. each of them separately told me he needs a decisive win tonight. if not, the campaign is in trouble. i wonder if you think that's overstating it. >> i think it's overstating it. but i think he needs a win tonight. the republicans are calling it mitt meantum. you can see it in the poll. one poll, you don't know how much to read into it. but romney is leading by seven points in florida. whether the number is right, clearly the trend is right, the direction is right. that's where things are headed. he's got to find some way to blunt it and he's got it make a stronger case fort obama

administration and two, a stronger case against mitt romney than barak obama did last week. >> shep: is it your sense that this is turning on the national scale and it is in the big three on the east coast, but what's up with ohio? >> well, it's interesting. ohio -- actually a few states in the midwest. i don't think it's just ohio. wisconsin, look at iowa. part of it may be that it's the rust belt. certainly in the case of ohio is one out of eight jobs depends on the automobile industry and so people there remember the obama bailout of the auto industry and that helps a lot. there may be some regional differences. i don't think it's just one state. on the other hand, i do believe a rising tide lifts all boats. if romney starts to build support around the country, it will also increase in ohio and iowa and wisconsin states that are a little more resistance. conversely if he starts to sink, you'll see that in the swing states as well as the national

polls. >> shep: sometimes it matters largely on how the narratives, what part of the narratives seems to catch on. i try to pay attention to the kind of questions people hear as they're traveling. i was surprised to hear how many women are asking about the issues the democrats have been pushing and that is the war against women and his stance on abortion rights and all the rest. >> well, there was no question that for a while that was very effective for the obama campaign. particularly here in virginia. i know we're in dc, but we get all the virginia media. and they were hammering on this war on women thing. tons of obama ads criticizing romney's record and positions on women. but interestingly enough, that gender gap began to close as well when people saw romney because he did not seem like an extremist. he seemed like a reasonable guy. you can be sure, and again, that was another thing that obama didn't hit at all. he never talked about the social issues and women. you got to assume that biden is going to go after that tonight.

>> shep: yeah. i would be very surprised if he didn't. i don't know about you, i have greater anticipation for this vice presidential debate than any i can remember. >> well, four years ago when sarah palin was interesting, too. but i will say -- >> shep: for different reasons. >> let me be the first to announce that the nationals won on a walk-off homerun. >> shep: we were watching it. congratulations to your nats. >> there you go. now i can focus solely on the vice presidential debate. >> shep: so in other words, you don't care about the yankees? >> no. i'd like the orioles to beat them. not particularly. [ laughter ] >> shep: all right. yankee fans love the haters. chris wallace, great to see you. paul ryan had a tuna salad sandwich for lunch so he could relax. vice president biden had chicken and spaghetti on the menu for tonight. normally that's probably not news, but on debate day, no scrap of information goes unreported. coming up, we'll sit down with representatives from both sides to ask them what we should

expect to see here this evening. that's from the journalist of fox news. and fox news teams around the world. this is the fox report on fox news channel

>> shep: less than two hours ago until the debate which some of the locals are calling the thrill in theville. danville, kentucky. a live look at the stage for the debate. vice president dick cheney and senator joe lieberman also faced off here at center college during the 2000 campaign. it rained a lot. here is a look at the format for tonight. officials tell us it will cover both domestic and foreign issues. nine segments. that's the plan. ten minutes each. they will get two minutes to respond to a question, then the rest of the time is actual debating. as i mentioned, or that's the plan. you have to make a plan. the moderator is abc news senior foreign affairs correspondent, martha raddatz. her first husband went to harvard law school with president obama. the president was a guest at

their wedding 20 years ago. as you might imagine, the spokesman for paul ryan says he has no concerns at all about her moderating tonight's debate. paperly neither do the people at the debate commission. a spokesman says, and i quote, we selected her because she's a terrific journalist and will be a terrific moderator and we're thrilled to have her. now to a potentially major escalation in the ongoing crisis in syria. the prime minister of turkey now says a syrian passenger plane that his air force intercepted was carrying russian-made military equipment and ammunition. the flight left moscow yesterday enroute to damascus. after an intelligence tip, they tell us, jet fighters confronted the plane over turkey, then forced it to land in the turkish capital. once there, turkish forces removed the military hardware and sent the flight on its way. syria's government says that amounts to piracy.

as you know, relations between the two nations are highly strained. syria's ongoing civil war. today victoria nooland says the u.s. stands with the decision to inspect that plane. >> any transfer of any military equipment to the syrian regime at this time is very concerning and we look forward to hearing more from the turkish side when they get to the bottom of what they found. >> shep: but the syrian government is now furious and claiming nothing illegal was on board in the first place. let's get to leeland vitter live in the middle east bureau. >> shep, this hearing claimed there are crew on that airliner was roughed up, beaten up. the russians aren't happy either. they say that their citizens were detained for some seven hours and the russian export agency that is in charge of exporting weapons says now there were no weapons on that plane. the turks have yet to show the media the cargo that they offloaded from the air bus a

320. the turkish prime minister is standing fast saying his air space will not be used to transport weapons to syria. of course, that's not the only place that the syrians and turks are squaring off on their border right now, the turks have moved up tanks and also deployed f-16s about a week ago. the artillery barrages started between those two countries when a syrian mortar shell landed on a village. the turks saying if these barrages continue, they're going to use, quote, greater force. now, if there were actually weapons on that plane, it wouldn't be the first time, shepherd. we do know that in the parks the iranians have used commercial airliners to ferry weapons from tehran to da mass ma discuss, whether the russians are doing that as well is yet to be seen. back to you. >> shep: leeland vittert, thank you. new deaths to report, sadly, in the glowing meningitis outbreak linked to pharmaceutical company in massachusetts.

there is a number of cases continues to grow, lawmakers say they want the makers of the tainted steroids to explain themselves once and for all on capitol hill. that's next as we await tonight's vice presidential debate here in danville, kentucky, center college. stand by.

>> shep: the vp candidates and their staffs tweeting about debate preps ahead of the big event. aides posted this photo of joe biden practicing. the mock debate partner, congressman chris van hollen. paul ryan tweeted this a couple hours ago, along with a message, let's get this done. we'll have much more on the first and only vice presidential debate coming up moments from now inside fox report. first more people are dead

across america in that meningitis outbreak that officials linked to injections for back pain. the infections have spread to an 11th state. federal health officials report two more deaths bringing the total now to 14. 170 people reported sickened. one of them, the first confirmed case in the state of idaho. the feds say all of the victims received the tainted injections tainted with some sort of fungus and that the rare meningitis strain is not contagious. it doesn't pass person to person. now we're learning the massachusetts-based pharmaceutical company that made those shots has faced allegation of producing deadly injections before. late today a house committee asked the company to brief lawmakers on what role its products may have played in the current outbreak. regulators accuse the company of violating state rules. jonathan cerri live in atlanta, the home to the cdc. which rules is the company accused of violating? >> it's a state rule. in massachusetts, compounding

pharmacies can only make individual medications for individual prescriptions. in other words, if a patient needs a pill convert to do a liquid, for example, this doctor writes a prescription, the pharmacy fills it. but the center was operating more like a drug manufacturer, making large batches of this injectable back pain steroid and then shipping them to clinics around the country. tonight we're learning the massachusetts attorney general's office is investigating this pharmacy and that the company has hired one of boston's top criminal defense lawyers. shep? >> shep: what about the accusations that link that company to a patient's death? >> in 2004, the widow of an 83-year-old man, who died a year after receiving an injection, sued this company. she alleged that he had contracted a more common form of meningitis from that shot. but the woman and the company reached a confidential settlement in 2007 before the

case ever went to trial. shep? >> shep: jonathan in our atlanta news room, thanks. more than two years after that devastating bp oil spill in the gulf of mexico, more oil is surfacing, contaminating the water meter disaster site. coast guard officials report a slick 50 miles off the coast of louisiana matches exactly the crude oil that poured out of bp's well in 2010 after the deep water horizon rig exploded. that disaster sent more than 200 million gallons of oil into the water. the coast guard reports the newly discovered oil sheen will not hit land and it's too small to try to recover. this news comes as we've gotten word that bp is close to what may be a multi-billion-dollar settlement with the u.s. justice department. a settlement related to that 2010 disaster. the reporting comes from the "wall street journal" which our parent company owns. the journal reports people familiar with the talks say both sides are closing in on the deal, but nothing is locked down, though the dollar figures

are somewhere between 8 and $12 billion. one month after the attack on the american consulate in benghazi in libya, the united states is now sending a new top diplomat to libya. now we're learning more about what the c.i.a. director told members of congress about that assault. in fact, one law maker said it left him a little puzzled. as the running mates get ready in danville, we'll check in with governor romney and the president obama. live tonight from danville, kentucky [ male announcer ] what can you experience in a seat?

inspiration. great power. iconic design. exhilarating performance. [ race announcer ] audi once again has created le mans history! [ male announcer ] and once in a great while... all of the above. take your seat in the incomparable audi a8. the highest-ranked vehicle appeal among large premium cars by j.d. power and associates. ♪ for their "destination wedding." double miles you can "actually" use. but with those single mile travel cards... [ bridesmaid ] blacked out... but i'm a bridesmaid. oh! "x" marks the spot she'll never sit. but i bought a dress! a toast... ...to the capital one venture card. fly any airline, any flight, anytime. double miles you can actually use. what a coincidence?

what's in your wallet? [ all screaming ] watch the elbows ladies. [ all screaming ] boproductivity up, costs down, thtime to market reduced... those are good things. upstairs, they will see fantasy. not fantasy... logistics. ups came in, analyzed our supply chain, inventory systems... ups? ups. not fantas who would have thought? i did. we did, bob. we did.

got it. marie callender's gives you a way to make any day a special occasion. new mini cream pies for one. real whip cream and a cookie-crumb crust. marie callender's. it's time to savor.

>> shep: just about 92 minutes away electricity start of the vice presidential debate. when the two take the stage here in danville tonight's, a lot of folks likely won't be watching on television only. according to a poll from the pugh research center, 11% of people followed last week's presidential debate on both tv and some sort of digital device. ipad, computer, something. it was twice as many among viewers under the age of 40. so tonight you can watch the debate on your television and if you like, at foxnews.com. we'll be streaming it live there starting at 8:45 eastern daylight time. i'm shepard smith. this is the fox report. the bottom of the hour. time for the top of the news. live tonight from central kentucky. somebody murdered a security

staffer who worked at the u.s. embassy in yemen and government officials there say it looks like the work of al-qaeda. witnesses say the man was leaving his home in yemen's capital city when two gunmen on a motorcycle pulled up. as the story goes, one called out to the worker and when he turned around, a witness says the killers shot him not once, but three times right in the head. the attack comes as yemen's government goes on the offensive against the al-qaeda branch in that country. the branch that the united states officials have called repeatedly, the terror network's greatest threat to america. the fox report's chief correspondent, jonathan hunt in new york. it seems clear this was not random. the killers were targeting this man. >> in the words of at least one yemeni official, this was a, quote, assassination, shep. this man appears to have been targeted precisely because he worked at the u.s. embassy. in fact, had worked there for some 11 years within a security

team. the fear now, of course, is that those who attacked this man may have a hit list of targets. that could include u.s. citizens. listen to victoria nooland from the state department. >> there was obviously an emergency action committee meeting at that embassy today as we always do, they are looking at our security posture. they are taking the necessary steps, but i'm not going to get into the details of those today. >> you'll remember a contingent of 15 marines were sent there to bolster security at the embassy last month. those marines we are told were due to leave yemen today. we've asked the pentagon if they actually did leave or whether they have been ordered to stay because of today's attack. we are still awaiting an answer from pentagon officials. shep. >> shep: you know the word we were getting was that al-qaeda was fighting back in yemen. is this considered a sign of that? >> certainly if it is confirmed that al-qaeda carried out this attack today, then yes, it would

be a sign. there are also questions being asked today, shep, about whether this was pure coincidence, that it came exactly a month to day after the attack on the u.s. consulate in benghazi, libya, and the murder of four american citizens there, including, of course, our ambassador. just after that attack in benghazi, of course, a mob attacked the u.s. embassy in yemen. al-qaeda was believed to have been involved in that and in a string of other attacks against u.s. officials, all the evidence is the al-qaeda in the arabian peninsula remains very strong indeed, shep. >> shep: jonathan hunt from new york tonight. thanks. the state department today announced it has chosen a new top diplomat to represent our country in libya. the news comes exactly one month after the consulate attack there killed u.s. ambassador chris stevens. lauren pope will serve as the senior envoy in libya, at least until a permanent one takes

place. he's been retired for 12 years. he speaks arabic. he's a 31-year veteran of the foreign services. ambassador stevens was killed along with three other americans in the 9-11 assault on the u.s. consulate in benghazi. and the news of ambassador's temporary replacement comes a day after house hearings into what intelligence and security failures may have led up to that attack. katherine herrage is live in washington. there is new fallout from the hearing, it's my understanding. >> that's right. the hearing a state department witnessed showing a map of the consulate during their opening statement, just over their shoulder. both of these were hit on 9-11, but fox news is told that the government oversite committee was instructed not to publicly discuss the annex and reports that the c.i.a. worked there, prompting this response. >> i believe it to be classified information that goes to sources and methods and should not be disseminated in a public manner such as state is doing here

today. >> fox news is told as many as five mortar teams attacked the annex and consulate on 9-11. two mortars narrowly missing it, but then rehit. >> shep: where is the hearing going next? >> there is a renewed focus on a briefing given friday by david petraeus. to members of the house intelligence committee and in that briefing, sources tell fox that petraeus seemed very much wedded to the administration youtube video explanation. without discussing classified information, peter king was puzzled by what they were told. >> director petraeus gave the briefing and based on what we've learned since, really a lot of what we were told at that briefing was inadequate. i don't know the reason for it, but especially on what we know now, that there was more information available that was not told to us that day.

>> u.s. intelligence officials telling fox, quote, there was and still is information that suggested the attackers in benghazi were influenced by the scenes they saw in cairo, protesters scaling the walls of the u.s. embassy. congressman king is now asking secretary of state hillary clinton to designate the al-shariah as a foreign terrorist organization. this group is sympathetic to al-qaeda and it's blamed for the attack on the consulate, shep. >> shep: katherine, thank you. the analysts are saying libya is almost certain to come up tonight at the presidential debate here. as i mentioned at the top of this newscast, the stakes are higher than usual really for running mates with even president obama admitting he had a bad night his first debate with governor romney last week. our latest fox news poll shows congressman ryan has a higher approval rating than vice president biden among likely voters that's heading into tonight's showdown. you can see it here on fox news channel just about 86 minutes from now. campaign carl cameron live in the spin room here in danville.

the guys at the top of the ticket were campaigning today and there was some back and forth about libya. >> yes, there was. mr. romney was campaigning in asheville, north carolina. for the last day and a half, the obama campaign has been suggesting that the whole controversy over what happened with the u.s. consulate in benghazi was a consequence of the romney-ryan campaign, as though their political rhetoric is somehow what's creating a investigation and the nation's concern about why the administration held on so long arguing that it wasn't terrorism. well, today mr. romney answered back pretty toughly. listen to this. >> mr. president, this is an issue because we were attacked successfully by terrorists on the anniversary of 9-11. president obama, this is an issue because americans wonder why it was that took so long for you and your administration to admit that this was a terrorist attack. this is a very serious issue. these are very serious questions and the american people deserve serious answers and i hope they

come soon. >> the fact is, there have been a lot of republicans who have been critical of the romney campaign for not making as big as issue as many would have him do. while he has made a big foreign policy speech just this week, it hasn't been a main staple of his rhetoric. today was in response to the obama administration's criticism. but not a top line argument for him. it looks like as the investigations unfold, it will be a bigger and bigger issue not only for romney, but the whole country. >> shep: what are we getting from the president today? >> the president was in miami. one in which the polls suggest mitt romney has opened autopsy small lead on the edge of the margin of error. and as he has been doing, as joe biden has been doing, as democrats have been doing since mr. obama pretty much lost the first debate, they've been arguing that mitt romney has been a debate deceiver and essentially trying to conceal the conservatism that he used to win the republican primaries earlier this year.

mr. obama has made -- is trying to use it in an attempt to mock mitt romney. here is a sampling. >> trying to go through an extreme makeover. after running for more than a year in which he called himself severely conservative, mitt romney is trying to convince you that he was severely kidding. >> the president will be back in the white house tomorrow. mitt romney hitched the trail, where else but ohio. he'll do so tomorrow with paul ryan at his side following the debate tonight. >> shep: carl cameron in the spin room of the hall away. thank you. next, we'll hear from congressman paul ryan himself and see what he expects to see from vice president joe biden at the debate. plus, a romney surrogate weighs in on what the republican needs to accomplish to come out on top. we're live in danville, kentucky, at center college on what was a spectacular fall day. high 60s and gorgeous. tonight in the 30s up in the

hills. [ male announcer ] how do you measure happiness? by the armful? by the barrelful? the carful? how about...by the bowlful? campbell's soups give you nutrition, energy, and can help you keep a healthy weight. campbell's.

it's amazing what soup can do. campbell's. what do we do when something really wants to be painted? we break out new behr ultra with stain-blocker from the home depot... ...the best selling paint and primer in one that now eliminates stains. so it paints over stained surfaces, scuffed surfaces, just about any surface. what do you say we go where no paint has gone before, and end up some place beautiful. more saving. more doing. that's the power of the home depot. behr ultra. now with advanced stain blocking, only at the home depot, and only $31.98 a gallon.

>> shep: we got great economic news today. it didn't do much for our 401(k)s frankly. the news is good. first, u.s. foreclosures have plummeted to their lowest level in five years. that's according to the housing data firm realty track which reports that september marks the second consecutive drop for foreclosure filings. the labor department reports the number of americans filing first-time jobless claims has just hit a four-year low. it seems wall street was not so enthusiastic about the numbers. one investor said everybody is talking about baseball instead. understandable. the end of the day, the dow lost nine points. s & p and the nasdaq basically flat. congressman paul ryan predicts that in tonight's debate, his rival will come at him, quote, like a cannon ball. the republican vp nominee acknowledging that vice president joe biden's four decades of debate experience give him an edge. this will be congressman ryan's

first debate on a national stage. by the time he was old enough to vote, vice president biden had already been a senator who had run for president. amid the fallout from the president's performance last week at the debate there, analysts say vp biden will likely go on the attack right out of the gate. joining us, the republican senator from south dakota, john thune, a romney campaign surrogate. good to see you. thank you. >> good evening, shep. how are you? >> shep: i'm great. looking forward to hearing specifics tonight as i think so many americans are. is that what we're going to get from paul ryan tonight? >> i think what you will get from paul ryan is you're going to get a clear contrast. i think paul ryan will be well prepared. he always do his homework and he's very knowledgeable on policy matters. i hope this is a debate that's about policy. i hope it's about differences. i think it will lay out to the american people a very clear choice on november 6 and two very different visions fort future of this country. but i think it will be a very

spirited debate. i hope it is. i hope the american people are tuned in because i think you're going to see in paul ryan somebody who represents a different direction for the country that is not what we've been tethered to for the last four years, which is fewer jobs, more spending, higher taxes and lower take home pay. >> shep: before the debate last week, the pundits were saying, well, romney has to come out swinging. he's behind. when you're behind, you got to take big shots. government to swing for the fences. the opposite would be true tonight. is it a night for paul ryan to lay low? >> i don't think so. you know what i think will happen, really, paul ryan is going to mix it up. that's his nature. he really wants this election to be about big things, shep. so i think you will see him sort of laying out in policy form the things that he wants his administration to -- romney administration to be about. i don't think he'll be overly aggressive. but i think he'll be in there mixing it up. i suspect that vice president

biden for the reasons that you just mentioned, is president-elect obama going to come out and be aggressive. they need to do something to change the narrative that came out of the presidential debate last week. i expect him to come out and try and do that this evening. >> shep: we got mighty good housing numbers. the conventional wisdom is that if the news is good, the sitting candidate, the one who is already in office, has the edge on those matters. how do you attack that? >> i think we all hope for good news. we all hope the economy starts coming back around, that people get back to work. if you look at second quarter growth numbers this last year, those have been adjusted downward to 1.3%. you still have fuel prices of more than doubled since the president took office, health insurance costs are up 29%, college tuition up 25%. as i said earlier, incomes are down. and so we've got serious economic problems in this country that need to be addressed that aren't being addressed. we need to change the direction of the country. that's what a romney-ryan ticket

will do is a different approach, it's not based upon the expansion of government in washington, d.c it's expanding the private economy where good paying jobs are really created, getting americans back to work, getting the economy growing again. and making it a more prosperous future for our children and grandchildren. i think you'll see great contrast and americans will have a very clear choice about two different visions for the future of this country. i believe that will come out very clearly in the debate this evening. >> shep: one thing i wanted to mention, the numbers, if you break them down within the polling, suggest you're doing a lot better with people who are older and not quite as well with people who are under that gap at which the ryan plan would begin to change the way medicare looks in the future. some democrats are hammering at the ryan budget plan saying this isn't a good thing for you when he starts to privatize so much here and turn medicare into a voucher system. how do you come back at that? >> i think the worst thing that you can do, if you want to end medicare as we know it, do

nothing. if we stay on the path we're on right now, it is going to take us over the cliff. we are headed towards bankrupting the country and future generations of americans. that is unacceptable. what paul ryan has laid out is a plan. a plan that involves people who -- younger americans, perhaps having more choices, having more options, being able to acquire health insurance in a private marketplace, or in the fee for service medicare program that we have today, but older americans not having to make that decision if you're 55 and older, you wouldn't be impacted. the reality is, we have to change the way we're doing things or this is an unsustainable future for younger americans. so i hope younger americans are tuned in because i think they have the most at stake in this debate, this political debate and this election season and in the white house we make. -- choice we make. >> shep: senator john thune from the republican side, great to sigh. thank you. >> great to be with you, thanks. >> shep: it's been four years since vice president biden squared off against sarah palin in his last television debate.

this time around the pundits say his challenger is a little much different opponent. serious policy chops. we'll talk about the vice president's strategy with the democratic governor of maryland when the fox report continues live from the bluegrass state.

>> shep: continuing coverage live from center college. danville, kentucky, for the first and ohm vice presidential debate. the president's senior campaign strategist, david axelrod, personally took over the vice president's debate prep to get him up to speed. joining us from spin alley, martin o'malley. democrat and obama campaign surrogate. governor, thank you. >> thank you, shep.

>> shep: what have you heard about debate prep? how is he doing? i heard he started out rocky. >> i have been talking to chris van hollen who was involved if all of the debate prep and i understand the vice president is pumped up and raring to go. this is a man who has given his entire life to public service. he certainly understands the issues and the choices that are at stake between these two teams in terms of restoring middle class economic security or going back to the failed policies of the bush years. so i'm excited about it. all of the -- been talking to a number democratic surrogate that are here and other elected officials and we're pumped up. >> shep: given the performance last week, what's your sense of what the strategy should be tonight? >> i think what the -- i think what the vice president should do, and i think what the strategy will be is to simply

lay out the different choices that romney-ryan team would make versus the obama-biden team. and clearly now we've had 31 months of private sector job growth. first time that's happened in many, many years. 31 months in a row. we've created 4.1 million jobs as a nation. so we're moving in the right direction. the policies that are offered by the ryan budget in particular, i think is going to be something very difficult for the congressman to run away from tonight. and vice president biden has the opportunity to lay out that ryan budget in excruciating detail and the cascading damage it would do to our economy, to middle class jobs, middle class opportunities, not to mention the security for seniors and kids who are hungry. so i think this is going to be a very lively debate about two starkly different sets of choices. >> shep: democrats criticize the president's performance last week for not hitting some of the hot button issues of the day,

for instance, the 47% comment from governor romney they found on tape and frankly big news all week from all the sources. there are similar things he could do with specifics on the ryan budget tonight. if you were consulting on this, what specifics in that budget would you attack and how? >> well, i think that what the vice president is going to focus on is the impact that that ryan budget would have on our nation's jobs recovery, the damage it would do to our economy. looking at one study about what the ryan budget would mean for my state of maryland, over a ten-year period of time that, would be a $45 billion hit. it would hit all sorts of things, including a lot of jobs. jobs of teachers, jobs of police officers, and it would totally shred the safety net in really difficult times. it would be a huge drag on consumer demand and so i think that the vice president will focus on jobs.

i think he'll focus on opportunity and he'll focus on why those sorts of choices in the ryan budget would greatly undermine the progress that we're starting to make as a nation to move forward and to regain all we lost in the bush recession. >> shep: during campaign season, the running mate is most often seen as an attack dog. is it your sense that the vice president will go after mitt romney tonight on some of these same issues that so many democrats wish the president had done last week? >> i think that vice president will contrast in very stark terms the difference between an administration that makes every decision based on what's best for our nation and our nation's jobs recovery and the sort of choices that would simply drive up deficits or drive up costs on middle class americans by ladling on more tax cuts for millionaires and billionaires. the other thing that i think is going to be at stake in this race is i think you're going to

hear a robust discussion about the common good, about what's best for all of us, about what sort of choices we need to make that are consistent with the dignity of every human person, with consistent with the dignity of work, the common good, the protection of god's creation. i think this is going to be a debate that the vice president has been preparing really all his life for. it's going to be i think a very historic night and a very sharp contrast between vice president biden's vision for an america where there is more opportunity and congressman ryan who wants to bring us a country of less. >> shep: the maryland governor, democrat, good of you to be here. thank youment our coveraged continues enroute to mr. o'reilley i'm like...yeah, o. little did i know that one week later i wasn't smoking. [ male announcer ] along with support, chantix is proven to help people quit smoking. it reduces the urge to smoke.

some people had changes in behavior, thinking or mood, hostility, agitation, depressed mood and suicidal thoughts or actions while taking or after stopping chantix. if you notice any of these stop taking chantix and call your doctor right away. tell your doctor about any history of depression or other mental health problems, which could get worse while taking chantix. don't take chantix if you've had a serus allergic or skin reaction to it. if you develop these stop taking chantix and see your doctor right away as some can be life-threatening. if you have a history of heart or blood vessel problems, tell your doctor if you have new or worse symptoms. get medical help right away if you have symptoms of a heart attack. use caution when driving or operating machinery. common side effects include nausea, trouble sleeping and unusual dreams. it helps to have people around you... they say, you're much bigger than this. and you are. [ male announcer ] ask your doctor if chantix is right for you.

meet the 5-passenger ford c-max hybrid. and you are. when you're carrying a lot of weight, c-max has a nice little trait, you see, c-max helps you load your freight, with its foot-activated lift gate. but that's not all you'll see, cause c-max also beats prius v, with better mpg. say hi to the all-new 47 combined mpg c-max hybrid.

tdd#: 1-800-345-2550 like a lot of things, the market has changed, tdd#: 1-800-345-2550 and your plans probably have too. tdd#: 1-800-345-2550 at charles schwab, we'll give you personalized recommendations tdd#: 1-800-345-2550 on how to reinvest that old 401(k). tdd#: 1-800-345-2550 so talk to chuck tdd#: 1-800-345-2550 and bring your old 401(k) tdd#: 1-800-345-2550 into the 21st century. tdd#: 1-800-345-2550 rollover your old 401(k) tdd#: 1-800-345-2550 to a schwab ira tdd#: 1-800-345-2550 and you can receive up to $600. tdd#: 1-800-345-2550 see schwab.com tdd#: 1-800-345-2550 for terms and conditions. >> bill: updating a top story tonight, federal health officials report the death toll from the meningitis outbreak has grown to 14. officials linked the rare fungal meningitis cases to tainted

steroid shots for back pain. on this day in 1976, then president gerald ford promoted george washington to the rank of general of the armies. meaning he will always outrank all army officers, past and present. after the revolutionary war, our nation's first president retired as lieutenant general in the u.s. military. that's a three star position. that means several other five star generals from the civil war, world war one and 2 outranked number. in january of 1976, congress wrote a resolution recommending that washington always be the most senior united states military officer then, now and forever. and the father of our country got an overdue promotion 36 years ago today. now you know the news. for this thursday, october 11, 2012. i'm shepard smith. we're back tomorrow for the fox report from new york. brett brett